It's Almost 2010!

Happy New Year!

Skiing: Round Two

Christmas sure knows how to monopolize my time. This week has been crazy! But way back last weekend, we took a break from getting ready for Christmas and we headed skiing with some friends. I really hoped this would be a better experience than last year.

Before we headed up to Keystone, I had a plan. I decided I wanted to spend the entire morning all alone on the "bunny" slopes. You know, the super easy areas that often have a "magic carpet" conveyer belt. I'm pretty sure they're mostly meant for kids, but I was ok with taking things really easy. I felt confident that without the pressure of trying to keep up with everyone else, I would quickly improve. Unfortunately, Matt decided we should just head down the "school zone" run together. I wasn't sure I was ready for a real run with tons of people, but I let Matt convince me that I could handle it.

And I could handle it... Sort of...

We started out ok. I took my time, zig-zagging back and forth down the slopes. I was doing pretty well, and I started getting a little more excited.

Matt, having fun on the slopes.

But then it started getting more difficult. I had a pretty good fall after heading down a particularly steep part, and it wasn't as fun anymore. Suddenly, I realized I was pretty close to the top of a very long run that was probably a little too advanced for me. But I kept plugging along (and kept falling), and made it to the halfway point.

At this point, I gave up. But even though I had only made it halfway down one run, I'd been on the mountain for about three hours and I was pretty exhausted. We hopped on the ski lift going down (which kind of ended in disaster when I fell off at the end), and I took of my extremely heavy skis and boots for good (at least for the day).

I certainly made some improvements since the last time we went skiing. Maybe I would have made more progress if I'd followed my plan and stayed in the magic carpet area, but maybe not. Maybe being thrown out on a mountain forced me to be less timid, making me learn more quickly. Regardless, I'm definitely getting better. And I'm looking forward to going again.

But at that point, I was happy to let the boys keep skiing while I relaxed.

Dave and Joe. They're both really good skiers, but they were nice enough to put up with me tagging along.

Matt is doing great, of course. He's a million times better than me, but I'm ok with it. As long as he enjoys himself.

Matt, probably planning to go on some crazy run.

Pink goggles! Yay! I think I was thrilled that I was done at this point.

Once I decided I was done skiing, I occupied myself by walking around the shops. I sat and relaxed with a well deserved beer, and I bought myself a super cute hat. So, it was a good day in the end. And I saw Santa!

I'm pretty sure he was the real Santa because he had a reindeer with him.

It wasn't too much longer before the guys were done and we were headed home.

Mountains as we were leaving.

But first, we needed burgers. Apparantly, it's some tradition for Dave and Joe to get burgers after skiing. I think it is a good tradition.

Joe is excited for burgers.

It was a fun day, and we're looking forward to getting up in the mountains again soon!

Things I Learned Today

1. Skiing is hard. (I pretty much had this one figured out a year ago, but it was reaffirmed to me today.)

2. Skis and ski boots are heavy.

3. I shouldn't listen to Matt. Ever. At least when it comes to deciding what runs to take.

4. When I'm stuck on a big, scary mountain (thanks to Matt) and I have to go down, I can do pretty ok. That being said...

5. Falling hurts.

6. Pink goggles make everything better.

7. Getting off a ski lift (especially going down, while carrying skis because you're not allowed to wear them, when the guys don't even notice you're there and don't slow the lift at all or give any instructions on what you're supposed do) is hard.

8. Causing the lift to stop after falling when trying to get off is embarrassing.

9. Beer tastes yummy after skiing.

10. Burgers are awesome after skiing.

And:

Someday, I will be good at this.

Did you know Christmas is coming?

I am not ready for Christmas. I'm so not ready for Christmas. I'm unprepared when it comes to gifts, cards, and plans, and I am also not prepared emotionally.

But come Christmas will. So I'm trying.

We finally finished decorating our Christmas tree. Unfortunately, I can't find a tree topper anywhere that isn't hideous. So we are topperless. Or topless. Ha.

So pretty.

On Sunday, we gathered at my parents' house to make Christmas cookies! (By we, I mean my mother, me, and the children. The men were not involved in the cookie-making process.)

Rolling out dough.

Nieces, cutting cookies.

Decorating time. This is the real fun part.

While we were all gathered together, we celebrated my niece's birthday. She's officially a teenager, which is pretty scary. In lieu of a cake, we had a birthday cookie.

Way cute. Decorated by my mom.

After blowing out the candles...

She dug right in:

Yum.

This week has been pretty fun at school. We've been doing holiday activities with the kiddos, and we've had a Secret Santa gift exchange going on with some of the staff. I have to say, I'm a pretty good Secret Santa. I've had a lot of fun picking out my gifts, and they've gone over pretty well. Plus, I'm pretty sure my recipient has no idea that I'm her Santa.

We decorated stockings with our kids (whose names I "smudged" for privacy). Tomorrow we will look inside them. Maybe we will find something!

Tonight, I spent way too much time baking cookies for gifts at school.

Peanut Butter Kisses

Brownies with some fancy stuff on top.

Now, I am tired. And the week is only half over. Like I said, I am totally not ready for Christmas. But I'm very ready for Winter Break from school. Only a couple more days and then maybe I can get caught up!

Fun Things That Make Me Tired

Wow. December is a hard month. I feel behind on everything, and I'm busy all the time. But somehow, I've found the time to have a little fun, too.

Way back, more than a week ago, I did something I'd never done before. I went with a friend to Tracks Nightclub in Denver. On the first Friday of every month, they have a huge ladies' night, aptly named "First Friday." It's the "largest monthly women's dance party in the US." Soo... that's cool.


The thing that made this experience so different for me was that Tracks is club that caters mostly to the GLBT community. I was a little nervous about being a straight girl at a "gay club," but I ended up having a really good time. The great thing about the gay and lesbian community is that they're so accepting of everyone. It was a lot of fun, and I think I'll be going again.

Last week, it was cold. I mean REALLY cold. We accidentally forgot about the cooler full of drinks that we left outside after Thanksgiving weekend. We ended up with a pretty interesting ice sculpture.

Frozen solid.

The freezing cold weather made it very difficult to leave our nice, warm house. But leave it we did. On Wednesday, we headed out to support our Avs! We're pretty big hockey fans (I'm so proud to have influenced Matt in this), so we're always excited to see them in action.

Yay hockey!

Thanks to some connections of Matt, we got awesome seats. In fact, I've never been that close. We were in the lower level, ROW 8!! It was very exciting.

Look how close!

Sadly, our boys lost. But it was still a good time. And we got to see some way cute little kids at intermission.

Look how cute! We loved the way the little league kids just swarmed after the puck in one giant mass. It was fun.

Last night, we ventured up to Fort Collins to hang out with some friends. We had delicious food, good beer, and fun times. As a result, I am very tired. In fact, I've been exhausted this whole week. But it's been worth it. In the craziness of the holidays, it's vital to make time for fun (often non-holiday related) activities.

Thanksgiving Weekend

So I know I just had a pretty long vacation from school last week, but...

How much longer till Winter Break???

I was not ready to head back to work on Monday after our very nice Thanksgiving weekend. Matt's family came out from Kansas to spend the holiday with us, so we combined our families for our dinner on Thursday. That meant Matt and I would be hosting Thanksgiving at our house for the first time.

I spent the week planning, shopping, and cooking. Come Thursday, I was as prepared as I could be. And I was very excited!

Rubbing down the turkey with butter and herbs. Yum?

My pretty table.

Matt, carving the turkey. It looked beautiful, but I didn't get a picture before Matt dug in. You'll just have to believe me when I say that it was super pretty.

Our spread.

Our menu included:
1. Butter Herb Roasted Turkey
2. Turkey Gravy
3. Dressing (Grandma Mewhinney's recipe)
4. Mashed Potatoes
5. Macaroni and Cheese
6. Green Beans (with bacon and onions)
7. Greek Salad and Strawberry Salad
8. Apple-Cranberry Sauce (home-made!)
9. Rolls and Cornbread

Eating.

Eating.

After dinner, the moms were nice enough to clean up.

Yay! Stuffed after our delicious dinner.

Once we'd recovered from our huge meal, we turned to dessert.

Yummy sweets.

Our desserts:
1. Apple Pie (made by my dad - awesome)
2. Cheesecake
3. Chocolate Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
4. Cherry Cobbler
5. Pumpkin Tarts
6. Pumpkin Roll
7. Fruitcake
8. White Chocolate Cherry Shortbread Cookies
9. Chocolate Peanut Butter No-Bake Cookies

Obviously, we had plenty of food.

We spent the rest of the evening relaxing with football and leftovers. It was nice to just sit and spend time with family.

Nieces.

Kiddos and me toasting to Thanksgiving with Sparkling Cider.

Matt's family stayed with us throughout the weekend, so we tried to find a couple of exciting things to do. On Friday, we headed south to Colorado Springs. The whole family took a cog train up to the top of Pike's Peak.

Matt on the train. Unfortunately, our seats were all separated, but it was still a cool ride.

On the train. Can you see Kansas?

Trying to get a shot of the view off the train.

At the top. It was cold.

Scott and Kellie's family.

Pretty view. You only get views like this on top of giant mountains.

Us on top of a mountain. Sadly, we did not climb this one.

Pretty.

Papa Herndon.

Our train.

The trip to Pike's Peak was a lot of fun, and visiting with Matt's family was really great. But it's also nice to have a quiet house again.

After they all headed home on Sunday, we had to start decorating for Christmas! Unfortunately, our little, puny tree wasn't gonna cut it in our new huge living room. So we bought a giant one.

Matt, deciphering the instructions.

Our tree, with a single ornament. The ceremonious first ornament was none other than...

Captain Jean-Luc Picard, of course!

Now we just have to decorate the rest of the tree. But we'll get on that later.

Hi from somewhere over Ohio!

This is Matt. As a recovering computer geek, I just had to relate that I'm playing on the internet while cruising along at 33 thousand feet. That's pretty cool.